Syracuse activist travels with Syracuse United Neighbors to Chicago protest

Amanda Pascall and her husband learned a hard lesson in the mid 1990s, after they moved here with their children from Perth, Australia. They bought a house and then lost it.

“I got ripped off a few years ago when I first got to Syracuse and didn’t know how things worked and was a lot more naïve about the whole system, I guess. I lost my house to foreclosure and got angry about it, because you always think that there’s rules in place that would stop some of the practices that go on with high interest rates and adjustable rates,” Pascall said.

Since then, Pascall, who lives on the South Side. has become educated and activated. She’s been involved with Syracuse United Neighbors and National People’s Action for a decade working to address financial practices that hurt people in low-income neighborhoods in particular.

“You move on and you try to make things better. I guess that’s the thing- trying to make things better so it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

Pascall was part of a contingent of 15 people from SUN who planned to attend a protest early this week in Chicago during the American Bankers Association annual convention.

Pascall works in a home foreclosure prevention program at Home HeadQuarters, a nonprofit housing agency. The work feels good.

“Our workload has quadrupled since the beginning of the year and we are really able to help people,” Pascall said.

Besides her day job and work with SUN and National Action, Pascall is the mother of four kids, ages 9 to 22. She home schools the two youngest children, the older two are in college.

Metro news of note

The Westcott Community Center is readying for a new jobs training program it will offer through a whopping $438,358 grant from the New York State Department of Labor. The center will run the program in partnership with a number of other local agencies, Executive Director Steve Susman said.

The program will offer training and certification for jobs in three areas: green construction, office technology and entry level health care. The program will be open to low-income people who are 16 years or older. The program will accept 250 people and it will begin Jan. 1, Susman said.

The grant is by far the biggest the community center has ever received, he said.

“In fact our entire operating budget this year was $450,000. This grant almost doubles it,” he said.

The center also recently landed two other grants to expand its literacy and GED programs.

Contact the center at 478-8634.

There will be a free “economic and entrepreneurial smart fair” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the South Side Innovation Center, 2610 S. Salina St.

Banks, financial planners and small business owners will provide information on how to improve your financial fitness and overcome the barriers to launching or maintaining a business.